One of Us is Going to Have to Change
by Pandemi
Summary: The Justice League's annual Halloween party is one of the only times that everyone in the League can just relax and have a good time with their friends. This year was Phantom's first year as an official member of the League, and he wanted to make a good impression.


I don't own Justice League or Danny Phantom

This Justice League is based on the 2004 Justice League Unlimited, not any of the darker/edgier continuities… so if some people seem a little ooc, this is just for fun.

 **All costumes will be named at the end of the chapter in order of appearance, so if you want to know a certain one, just skip to after the Author's Notes, and continue reading.**

* * *

 **One of Us is Going to Have to Change**

The Justice League's annual Halloween party is one of the only times that everyone in the League can just relax and have a good time with their friends.

This year was Phantom's first year as an official member of the League, and he wanted to make a good impression. Everyone was going to be there, even Batman, though he usually just shows up in his regular bat costume—but Robin and Batgirl like to dress up, and this was one of the only times that they get to see the other League members, so he seems to go just as a chaperone for them.

Every year, the younger members of the League come up with a theme; and this year they chose "Heroes and Villains." They had suggested that it would be more fun if no one dressed up as themselves, for obvious reasons. Except for Batman, also for obvious reasons.

It was very difficult for Phantom to think of a single villain he wanted to show up as, but after a relatively brief discussion with his friends—after they stopped fawning over the fact that he was going to see the top members of the Justice League in a casual setting, without what looks like the weight of the world on their shoulders, which is very rare for _anyone_ to see—they came up with the perfect costume idea.

Even with his experience with sewing and patching up his suit when it got damaged, he knew he didn't have the skill to make the costume at the quality he wanted, so he went to Dora to see if she—or rather, her fleet of personal tailors and seamstresses—could help.

Needless to say, the final product was near-perfect.

He wore white face-paint with a long black scar running down the right side of his face and an eyepatch on the left. Long silver horns, with the left one broken, were connected to a bright green wig that fell to his mid-back. He had a black leather shirt and pants, accompanied by armored gloves and boots; around his waist, he wore a green sword attached to a belt, with a grey loincloth. Clipped to his shirt with green, skull-shaped brooches, a black and red cape was draped over large pauldrons that made the cloth raise and fall over his back dramatically. With the final addition of a false beard similar to the pharaohs of Egypt, Phantom was quite satisfied with his costume.

When he arrived at the Watchtower, he was greeted by the Flash in a large gorilla suit eating a banana, talking with Green Lantern, who was dressed up as… _something_ , and Hawk Woman in a white pantsuit with a top hat and monocle.

"—know who Gorilla Grodd is," Flash took a bite of his banana and continued without swallowing. "But half of us can't even pronounce your person."

"It doesn't matter if no one knows who they are; they're a hero and I respect them," Green Lantern raised an eyebrow. "And you wear your gorilla costume every year."

Flash made a mock offended gesture with one hand over his chest.

"This was expensive! And it's not my fault that a gorilla suit fits into a surprising amount of themes," he pouted.

Hawk Woman rolled her eyes and turned, where she noticed Phantom and smiled.

"Hey, Danny! Wow, you really went all-out on your costume," she said, getting the attention of her companions. "It looks great! … Who is it?"

Phantom blushed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's Pariah Dark, the tyrant ghost king that I fought a little while ago," he smiled. "I kinda wanted to go big for my first time here."

"Go big or go home, am I right?" Flash laughed.

"Then maybe you should go home," Green Lantern smirked as he ignored the speedster's squawking. He waved Phantom over. "Come on, you've gotta see the others' costumes."

As they entered the main hall, he could see that the party was already in full swing; tables had been set up along the walls with huge bowls of punch and other soft drinks, as well as mountains of food and snacks piled on large plates. There was a table labeled specifically for the Flash. Most of the League members were present and mingling amongst each other. Phantom looked around for people he recognized.

Over near a corner, Superman was wearing grey makeup on his face with a backwards S on his suit, laughing about something with Wonder Woman who was wearing blue and gold armor with a red cape and a large black and gold headdress with a metal baton. Vigilante and Shining Knight had dressed up as each other; Vigilante even wore one of those small horse costumes with the fake legs on top that he had made to look like Winged Victory. It took Phantom a moment to recognize Black Canary, as she was dressed in a long purple dress with big puffed shoulders and a golden mask. Next to her, Wildcat had poorly applied orange face-paint, in a purple bodysuit with silver accents. They waved to Fire and Ice, who were dressed as Hawk and Dove, respectively.

On the other side of the room, Phantom could see Zatanna in a white button up shirt with a tie and a brown trench-coat talking with Stargirl, who was in a black bodysuit with magenta thigh-high boots, gloves, and mask. And Booster Gold, dressed in a solid gold Superman costume. He was about to approach them when a short Batman and red-headed Wonder Woman ran up to him.

"Danny! You're finally here!" 'Batman' grinned at him. "Wow! That's that big ghost dude you fought before joining the League, right?"

"Hey Robin, hi Batgirl!" Phantom greeted. "Yeah, it's Pariah Dark; Dora helped me with the costume. It's pretty great, huh?"

"Yeah, it's pretty neat, Danny," Batgirl giggled as she petted the large green wig. "Say, have you seen J'onn around? He's usually here by now—"

Behind them, the doors slid open, and Lex Luthor strode into the room. Most of the conversation in the hall stopped as they all stared at the villain. He cleared his throat.

"Apologies for being late," Lex said in the Martian's voice. "I could not decide on a costume."

The silence was broken by several people starting to laugh, and they immediately welcomed him into their conversations.

All was going well for a while; Phantom was having a blast hanging out with some of the younger members of the League, commenting on their costumes and talking about his own.

And then Superman groaned and slid a hand down his face, surprisingly not messing up his makeup.

"Could someone put the atmospheric shielding on?" he asked. Everyone gave him confused looks while Batman frowned and pressed a button near one of the computers. Only quiet whispering could be heard from a couple people as they all waited for what Superman seemed to think was coming.

After a few moments, the League members in the hall could hear a distant rumbling. As it got louder, it became clear that it was the sound of an engine revving. Superman waved some people away from one of the space-side walls.

In an event that easily could have been catastrophic, the wall burst in with one final scream of the engine, creating dust and debris that obfuscated the figure that crashed their party.

"I can only _assume_ that my invitation got lost in the intergalactic mail," a rough voice said from a silhouette of a large person atop a motorcycle. "'Cuz it ain't no party without the _Main Man, Lobo!_ "

Phantom could hear some of the Leaguers start to groan; they had all heard the stories of the infamous Czarnian bounty hunter: When Superman had gotten stuck thousands of years in the future and everyone thought he was dead, Lobo had come and declared himself leader of the Justice League, and Superman's replacement. While it was true that he was very powerful, he was equally as arrogant, and didn't care so much about collateral damage or bystanders. When Superman returned, they had all thought that that had been the last they would see of the motorcycle-riding alien. But Phantom had joined the League long after that, so he made his way to the front of the crowd, eager to finally put a real face to the name.

"Lobo, what are you doing here?" Superman inquired, fighting to keep the annoyance out of his voice. "You aren't an actual member of the Justice League, and you can't just come crashing through the Watchtower walls! Not everyone here can survive in space, you could've hurt a lot of people."

"Don't be such a super _geek_ , Superman, you knew I was comin' from a mile away," Lobo sneered as he stepped off his Space Hog. His boots made a metallic _ka-chink_ as they hit the floor. "An' I even got all gussied up to show all you _losers_ how a real man does a costume party."

As the Czarnian stepped into full view of everyone, Phantom saw a very familiar sight.

Lobo had grey-white skin with black marks going down his eyes from his forehead to his cheeks, and wild black hair that came to his back. He had a headdress that displayed long silver horns that curved up demonically. Instead of his typical black leather jacket and jeans, he wore a full black tunic with silver plated boots and gloves. Clipped to his shirt with red, diamond-shaped brooches, a long black and red cape hung over large silver pauldrons that made the cloth rise and fall over his back dramatically.

"None a' you dorks could even hold a candle to _Lobo's_ costume—" His red eyes had been scanning the crowd but stopped suddenly when he got to Phantom. He raised a large armored hand and pointed directly at the ghost boy and shouted, "Hey you!"

As he marched up to the teen, Superman tried to get in between them, not knowing what Lobo was going to do, but the Czarnian was undeterred and was able to get right up in Phantom's face. The boy stood stiffly; he had heard about how violent Lobo liked to get, and didn't want to incite anything unnecessary during his first party. Lobo narrowed his eyes.

"Both of us are wearing the same costume. You know what that means? It means one of us is gonna have to change. And it ain't gonna be the _Main Man_ ," He furrowed his brows at Phantom's blank, bewildered look. "That's me."

Phantom shook his head and looked back at Lobo with surprise and confusion.

"Wait a minute, how do _you_ know about Pariah Dark?" the ghost teen asked.

The Czarnian looked down at himself, then back to Phantom.

"Pariah Dark? This is King Draako! He was the most famous of the old Czarnian kings! He was brutal and his rule was unrivaled in the galaxy," he puffed up his chest and crossed his arms in pride. "He was awesome!"

Phantom's eyes widened in realization.

"Oh, well I guess that explains that," he murmured.

"What explains what?" Lobo dropped his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Uhh," Phantom rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm pretty sure that Pariah Dark is the ghost of that Draako guy. He was the king of the Ghost Zone for a long time."

" _Was_?" Lobo frowned and put his hands on his hips, leaning in closer.

"Uh… yeah," the ghost boy awkwardly shrugged. "I sorta… beat him?"

The Czarnian narrowed his eyes and frowned deeper. After a tense moment, he threw back his head and laughed, giving Phantom a slightly playful shove, making him take a couple steps back to keep from falling.

"HA! Like a geek like you could beat Draako! Probably some wannabe nerd," he turned around before Phantom could say anything. "This party stinks! I hear there's a real rager on the third moon of Galtos in the Omega Quadrant. I'm blowin' this popsicle stand, see you later, dweebs!"

He swung a leg over his Space Hog and landed heavily in the seat. He revved the engine loudly before skidding in a tight turn and zoomed out of the hole he had made earlier, leaving a stunned silence in his wake. Superman sighed and turned to Phantom.

"So Danny, how'd you like your first official party in the League?" he smiled. Phantom blinked.

"Is it always like this?"

Flash appeared next to him and placed a large furry arm on his shoulder.

"Yeah, pretty much," he said as he somehow stuffed an entire cheeseburger in his mouth.

"Awesome."

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 **AN** : Pariah Dark looks a whole lot like a Czarnian, and Czarnians are super powerful, so in a DPxDC fusion AU, I like to think that Pariah is the ghost of a Czarnian king. (I made up Draako, so don't go tellin me that he doesn't exist. I know.)  
 **AN2** : The episode I reference with Superman being trapped thousands of years in the future is Justice League Animated's _Hereafter Part 1 & 2_.  
 **AN3** : The planet that Lobo mentions at the end is the planet that Shayera and John Stewart go to in the Justice League's Christmas episode, _Comfort and Joy_ , with the big bar fight! :D

 **Costumes:  
Phantom** was Pariah Dark;  
 **Flash** was Gorilla Grodd;  
 **Hawk Woman** was Gentleman Ghost;  
 **Green Lantern** was an unpronounceable alien Green Lantern from another galaxy;  
 **Superman** was Bizarro;  
 **Wonder Woman** was Big Barda;  
 **Vigilante** was Shining Knight and Winged Victory;  
 **Shining Knight** was Vigilante;  
 **Black Canary** was Morgan Le Fay;  
 **Wildcat** was Mongul;  
 **Fire** was Hawk;  
 **Ice** was Dove;  
 **Zatanna** was Constantine;  
 **Stargirl** was Star Sapphire;  
 **Booster Gold** was Golden Superman;  
 **Robin** was Batman;  
 **Batgirl** was Wonder Woman;  
 **Martian Manhunter** shapeshifted into Lex Luthor;  
 **Lobo** was King Draako;  
and of course **Batman** was Batman


End file.
